The Garmr
The Garmr is the massive fortress monastery claimed by Chapter Master Uriel of the Dark Wardens. On return from a mission to recover +ERROR NAME REDACTED+ by order of the Oros Hereticus, Uriel, who was a Sergeant of the Dark Angel's Fourth Company, stumbled upon a massive Space Hulk just exiting from Warp Space. But this Space Hulk at its core, turned out to be only a single ship from the golden age of technology. A Vessel From Earth Maiden Voyage The monstrous U.S.S. Arizona was the sixth attempt to break through the warp storms that had plagued the galaxy and kept Earth apart from the rest of its colonies. A ship that was supposed to carry the hopes and dreams of the Sol Colonies and bring humanity across the stars and back to its righteous expansion and progress. Using a newly created warp technology, this ship would travel across worlds and stars in-numerous, shattering the prison that ... But this was not to be. The U.S.S. Arizona flew past Saturn and engaged their experimental warp engine, but something happened whilst on their maiden voyage through the Immaterium. Their navigator stared into the warp, and his mind fragmented into a million pieces. A muddled log of this event was recovered, and the man merely began cackling loudly before attempting to sexually force himself onto a fellow crewmate. He was restrained and thrown into the brig. He never recovered. Adrift Without a navigator, the crew of the U.S.S. Arizona tried desperately to figure out a safe place to disengage their warp drive and exit the twisting and terrible Immaterium. But the same feverish madness that had claimed their navigator, had already begun to creep through the entire crew. This was a ship with the primary design of both seeding new colonies, and having the technological expertise and size to become a sociopolitical center for a new solar system. And so, there were hundreds of thousands of civilians on board, but they were all in cyro sleep and unaware of what had begun to plague the ship around them. The Captain of the U.S.S. Arizona had already given way to the madness that was seeping from the warp, and began to wake up the colonists, telling them that this was their new home and that they had to get used to it. The colonists, being in stasis, had yet to be infected by the madness of continued exposure to the Immaterium, and quickly caught on that this wasn't right. This wasn't a home, it was a prison. Lust At this point in time, humans had no idea that the Eldar had inadvertently created the new Ruinous Power of Chaos known as Slaanesh. And as Slaanesh was born, so was The Eye of Terror. The newest Ruinous Power cast deep tendrils of 'murder-lust' madness coursing through the warp, and these waves directly hit the U.S.S. Arizona. It was the Prince of Pleasure's visage that killed their navigator, and it was through him/her influence that they were now stranded in the Immaterium. And so, the crew and civilians of the U.S.S. fell to Daemon madness and began to rape and kill each other, and not always in that order. The halls were strained red with the blood of the innocent and guilty alike. Children were killed in their mothers arms, more often then not by their own grinning mothers. And the U.S.S. Arizona, a ship that had been made to carry the hopes of mankind, went dark deep in warp space where it would drift for more then 20,000 years. Space Hulk The Return For more then 20,000 years the U.S.S. Arizona drifted through the warp, drinking deep of the Daemonic energies all around it. Though a living soul would no longer be found within its walls. Through the many years, the U.S.S. Arizona found itself fusing and colliding with other smaller vessels, large asteroids, and even a few smaller planets. Over time, the U.S.S. Arizona disappeared under the weight of all all this other material, and became a Space Hulk, drifting through the Immaterium. And where there are other vessels, there are always the long-lived and self-dependent gene stealers of the Tyranids. The infested and massive Space Hulk one day thundered back into real space, cascading back through a thunderous warp storm that seemingly appeared out of no where. Be it the will of The Emepror, or some sick joke of the Ruinous Powers, this Space Hulk appeared directly in the path of Sergeant Uriel of the Dark Angels Fourth Company. Trapped As the Space Hulk appeared, Sergeant Uriel's ship was unable to take evasive maneuvers in time and they found themselves crashed deep within the Space Hulk riddled with hungry gene stealers. The crew of Sergeant Uriel's ship was his squad, a navigator, an astro-path, a small Inquisitorial party, and a junior techpriest. Thankfully for Sergeant Uriel's squad, the powerful Inquisitor Kar+REDACTED+ and her psyker Si+REDACTED+ accompanied them into the Space Hulk, as did a junior Techpriest training under Uriel's Techmarine. With the help of these Inquisitoral agents, Sergeant Uriel led his squad, which at this point only consisted of an Apothecary and a Techmarine, through the Space Hulk in hopes of finding a control center or a working ship in which to escape. After several long months of traversing the mighty core of this Space Hulk, and slaying countless Tyranids, Uriel and the Inquisitor's group met with a single guardsman from the Death Korps of Krieg. This guardsman had defied all odds, and lived for several years within the warp and aboard a Space Hulk riddled with xenos. But there were other horrors aboard the Space Hulk that sought destruction of humanity... This guardsman knew the way through the Space Hulk that had become his home, and he guided the group deeper and deeper into the Hulk. The premise for this guardsman being alive was seemingly impossible, and the Inquisitorial agents that made up the group were convinced that the man was either a daemon inhabiting a human body, or a man gone mad in the Immaterium who was leading them to their death. But Uriel refused to accept this, and allowed the guardsman to take them deep within the terrible Space Hulk, where the threat of Xenos continued to grow. Heresy Deep within the bowels of the Space Hulk was something that took immediate priority, and if it was real everyone in the group realized it needed to be destroyed first and foremost. It was a fully functional and thinking artificial intelligence. The highest form of techno-heresy, condemned by The Emperor himself. It had to be destroyed, and if this guardsman could lead them to something so terrible, so that it could be destroyed, that was a risk worth taking. As they neared what this guardsman thought was the A.I. Core of an ancient space faring vessel, the threat of xenos seemed to become less and less. While there were no automated defenses that the A.I. took against this group, there were strange things left over from the rape-murder fest of the crew in the warp. Shadowy figures dogged the group, harrying them towards the A.I. Core lest they be consumed by the immediate evil now on their heels. It was here that their Techmarine turned to make a final stand, hurrying his comrades to rush to the core in hopes he could slow the darkness incarnate that was chasing them. The Inquisitorial party, Sergeant Uriel, and the junior Techpriest continued forwards and entered the A.I. Core after their Inquisitor threw the door from its hinges. The A.I. activated its internal defenses against the group that had broken into its core, but Uriel and the Inquisitor's combined forces were enough to fight their way through the obstacles to the Core itself. Staking a Claim With their destination in reach, the group made ready to destroy this heretical monstrosity. But then the junior Techpriest stepped forwards and revealed her true nature. She was an experiment created by the Techmarine that they'd left behind. A genetically perfect and superior Princep of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Someone capable of replacing the A.I., and possibly breathing new life into the ancient technological ship that once was the U.S.S. Arizona. Sergeant Uriel and the Inquisitor realized the gravity of the situation, and were willing to let the Princeps bet her life on being able to take direct control of the A.I. Core. After interfacing with the A.I., the group's Princeps was able to overcome the ancient technology's program after an exhausting battle of technological minds. The Princeps brought the ancient defenses online, and began to kill off the xenos that infested the ship. She also found that many of the civilians were still locked in cryo sleep, though by now their brains had been completely destroyed by the long freeze and the exposure to ambient warp energy. But, that didn't mean that they wouldn't make good servitors. With a base of labor and the control that would have been available to an ancient A.I., Sergeant Uriel's remaining crew found their Techmarine barely alive, and their Apothecary was able to save him. The process of repairing the U.S.S. Arizona took many months, with large strips of the ship needing to be cut off using ancient technology and replaced. But after a lot of hard work, the U.S.S. Arizona was flight-worthy, and began the long, arduous journey to The Rock. The Garmr The Dark Angels Successor Arriving at The Rock, the home of the Dark Angels, the U.S.S. Arizona was to be turned over to both the Inquisition to be investigated of heretical origins, and to the Adeptus Mechanicus for study. These two factions argued feverishly until the Dark Angels released a statement that the ancient ship had once more been lost in the warp during its trip to The Rock. This was a lie. The U.S.S. Arizona was reported as missing in action, but from that date forwards the Dark Angels would have a new successor chapter with a mobile fortress monastery. This successor chapter was The Dark Wardens, and their fortress monastery would be named The Garmr. Their mission would be shrouded in secrecy, but for all intents and purposes, the Garmr was a prison ship designed to hold a single prisoner within its mighty and spacious walls. And there would always be a heavy Mechanicus and Inquisitorial presence aboard the ship to make sure that their sacred mission was never to be interrupted by either organization's leaders. And so they travel through space, ever on the move. Always keeping their secret hidden, and using the power of their massive vessel to make sure that their prisoner will always remain as such. Known Staff and Crew Astropaths -Julien Ullana